Minami-ke: Betsubara

Contents

Synopsis

The OVA was released bundled with the 6th volume of the Minami-ke manga series.

Segment One

During lunch, Hosaka is sitting at his desk debating with himself how best to present his culinary expressions of love to Haruka, coming up with outlandish ideas such as bringing a charcoal heater. Seeing this, Hayami attempts to dissuade him by claiming that his cooking is full of ego instead of love, and that his cooking would please no one. Hosaka laughes and leaves, and Hayami, as an aside, comments that she knows Hosaka's love to be strong and pure, but he must find a better way of expressing it.

Despite his dismissal of Hayami's criticism, Hosaka is determined to prove himself, even managing to scare Natsuki with his now-terrifying facial expression. Hosaka goes shopping for ingredients and encounters Chiaki,[1] who is in the middle of shopping for Haruka's planned Nikujaga and contemplating whether to intentionally leave out the carrots, which she despises.[2] As per usual, Hosaka fails to even notice her presence, but his extensive monologue on carrots and how they are full of love convinces Chiaki to purchase them.

Later on, Haruka and Kana are surprised by Chiaki forcing herself to eat carrots, and Chiaki explains that it is because of love. Hosaka force-feeds Hayami his latest culinary concoction, trying to get her to understand the love in his food. Hayami, of course, understands perfectly well, and tries to avoid doing so.[3] Meanwhile, Haruka is smiling to herself, envisioning all the myriad carrot-based dishes she can now cook since Chiaki seems to have gotten over her carrot phobia. However, when she explains this to Atsuko, in addition to her plan to cook all carrot dishes that night, Atsuko tells her to take things one step at a time.

Trivia

This episode contains the third of only three panty shots in the entire anime series, right after Chiaki collapses to the floor in the "Maki-sensei" scene. It is perhaps the only one that really counts. For reference, the other two are in season one, episodes one and nine.

Cultural References

"easter eggs"

Unanswered Questions

Memorable Moments

Quotes

"It's because of love."-Chiaki, explaining her forcing herself to eat the carrots.

"Haruka, take stairs one step at a time."-A more precise translation of the advice Atsuko gave Haruka.